Project 3. Fuller Lips In real life, collagen can make lips look fuller, but it can also give the impression of a duck's beak if overdone. In the world of the digital darkroom, however, you can enhance the lips without a trip to the plastic surgeon and without risking permanent damage.  For this project, I'm using a subject without makeup (see Figure 2.17). Not only can we enhance the shape of her lips, but we can also give her a splash of color to complete her look. Feel free to substitute your own image as you complete this project or download makeupfree.tif from the book's website. Figure 2.17. It's a beautiful face, but it could use a little something. 
1. | After making the requisite duplicate of the background layer, zoom in on the lips. Use your favorite selection tools to select the lips.
Tip Just a hint: The Magic Wand can prove troublesome with this selection because the skin color is so close to the lip color. If you're going to use this method, you should set the tool to a low tolerance and proceed slowly. A faster choice is the Freehand Selection tool using the Edge Seeker mode. | 2. | With the lips selected, choose Selections, Promote Selection to Layer. This creates a new layer with just the lips, labeled Promoted Selection. You can keep this default name or click the name in the Layers palette and enter a more meaningful label, such as Just Lips (see Figure 2.16).
Figure 2.18. The Layers palette now has a duplicate of the background layer and a layer with just the lips. 
| 3. | With the new promoted selection layer active, choose Selections, Modify, Feather. Feather the selection to expand it by about 12 pixels. This gives you room to increase the size of the lips. You should keep the lips selected while you follow the next few steps.
Note You might be asking why it was important to maintain the selection even after we promoted it to the new layer.The answer is that it restrains the amount of warping you can do. If you extend the Warp brush beyond the selection, the lips stop expanding after they hit the selection border.Think of it as coloring within the lines. | 4. | Now comes the fun part! Click the Warp brush. Select the Push mode, and adjust your brush to the size of the bottom lip.
| 5. | Position the Warp brush over the bottom lip, and slowly start pulling the lips outward to the desired size. Be careful not to catch the upper lip or teeth in this maneuver because it will distort the mouth more than we intend. Small strokes in one direction maintain the continuity of the lines in the lips.
| 6. | Change the size of the brush to the width of the upper lip and use the same procedure to push the lip upward (see Figure 2.19).
Figure 2.19. The selection border keeps the lips from taking on monstrous proportions. 
| 7. | When the lips reach the size you desire, click Apply in the Warp brush options palette to finalize your changes.
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Tip The Warp brush isn't just for collagen simulations. If your subject isn't smiling quite enough, an adept hand can turn up the corners of the mouth a bit without deforming the rest of the face. Simply follow the same steps in this project, but apply the Warp brush only to the corners of the mouth. Moderation is key unless you want your subject to look like Batman's nemesis, The Joker.
Adding a Bit of Color If you toggle the visibility of your new lip layer, you can see the marked difference between the subject's original lips and her new pout. It's rare to see such lips without makeup, however, so we're going to add some digital lipstick. 8. | With the lips still selected, select Adjust, Hue and Saturation, Colorize. Set the hue to 255 to get a bright red; then use the Saturation setting for just the right shade (see Figure 2.20).
Figure 2.20. Adding digital lipstick. 
Of course, there are many things you can do from here. For a summer look, use the Makeover tool to apply a suntan to her skin. If your subject has a bit of the goth in her, you can whiten out her face, make the lipstick a blackish red, and add black eyeliner.
I chose a subtle look, adding a bit of color to the cheeks and eyelids using the Saturation Up/Down brush. You can see the final result in Figure 2.21.
Exhibit 2.21. Makeover complete. 
Tip The realism you want to achieve in this project greatly depends on your rationale for undertaking it. If you're aiming to exaggerate the subject's features for fun or mischief, you might want to leave it here. If, on the other hand, you're trying to enhance the lips for aesthetics, you should blend them in better so they look more natural. You'll notice the bottom lip is in particular need of this technique. To blend it in, select the Dodge Brush and use it along the edge of the lips. You can also use the Soften Brush for further blending (see the accompanying figure).
A better blend. |
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